To set the scene:
I am sitting in the passenger seat on our way home from St Anton, Austria to London. This has been my first ski trip post hip replacement almost 7 months ago. Prior to that, I had hip scopes to both hips in 2015 and 2017. I skied before and in between each surgery.
So I’m reflecting on this week’s skiing in terms of what went well and what didn’t in the hope of addressing some of the areas to work when I go back next month. Please do feel free to give me your thoughts etc as this forum has some amazing contributors!
So here goes!
good things:
- I got myself on that mountain! I’m pretty chuffed with that full stop!
- I went to a resort I know really well (I knew where I would feel comfortable which helped with confidence
and now all the not so good things that come to mind
- NERVOUS as hell! I guess there was an underlying angst of falling over or being wiped out by someone and injuring myself. Although I honestly can’t remember when I last fell over, this anxiety made me really tense. From there, all other evils flowed:
1: initially in the back seat. This got better (attacking hip to tip and ensuring my pole plants were near the tip)
2: glute and quad fatigue on the operated side. Not at all surprising given I have been seeing a physio for the past 6 months and work on core, glutes daily. Hip replacement is a big op ( they go through or separate your glute muscles). I imagine this was impounded by the back seat which meant I was not skiing as efficiently as I used to. Again, this got better but not consistently balanced.
3: on the white out day and one nil visibility morning I could not relax enough or trust my own ability to just feel my way. You know what I mean? I did not help that I knew there was a drop at the side of the piste and I could not see a bloody thing!
4: That led to the sin of (sometimes) rotating my upper body. I used to be really good at keeping my zip to the fall line. Not sure what happened there.
5: my boots. I am blaming tools per se. My boots used to be agony to put on (had to put them on the boot warmer for a couple minutes just to get them on without tears) but once on they were snug and pain free. I got the liner and shell moulded last year when I came back and getting them on now is much easier. However, there are new pressure points which were really painful. I also felt heel movement in my right boot (operated side) which I don’t recall before.
During the good moments when I was relaxed, things came together nicely on various slopes and conditions ( we had ice, fresh powder, white outs, glorious sunshine this week). Most runs turn into mogul fields by late morning and those were fine (except on one black run where the telly were huge and the surgeon’s caution came back to my mind!!).
Words of wisdom, advice, pointers welcome. I’ll look forward to trying them on 28/03.
I am sitting in the passenger seat on our way home from St Anton, Austria to London. This has been my first ski trip post hip replacement almost 7 months ago. Prior to that, I had hip scopes to both hips in 2015 and 2017. I skied before and in between each surgery.
So I’m reflecting on this week’s skiing in terms of what went well and what didn’t in the hope of addressing some of the areas to work when I go back next month. Please do feel free to give me your thoughts etc as this forum has some amazing contributors!
So here goes!
good things:
- I got myself on that mountain! I’m pretty chuffed with that full stop!
- I went to a resort I know really well (I knew where I would feel comfortable which helped with confidence
and now all the not so good things that come to mind
- NERVOUS as hell! I guess there was an underlying angst of falling over or being wiped out by someone and injuring myself. Although I honestly can’t remember when I last fell over, this anxiety made me really tense. From there, all other evils flowed:
1: initially in the back seat. This got better (attacking hip to tip and ensuring my pole plants were near the tip)
2: glute and quad fatigue on the operated side. Not at all surprising given I have been seeing a physio for the past 6 months and work on core, glutes daily. Hip replacement is a big op ( they go through or separate your glute muscles). I imagine this was impounded by the back seat which meant I was not skiing as efficiently as I used to. Again, this got better but not consistently balanced.
3: on the white out day and one nil visibility morning I could not relax enough or trust my own ability to just feel my way. You know what I mean? I did not help that I knew there was a drop at the side of the piste and I could not see a bloody thing!
4: That led to the sin of (sometimes) rotating my upper body. I used to be really good at keeping my zip to the fall line. Not sure what happened there.
5: my boots. I am blaming tools per se. My boots used to be agony to put on (had to put them on the boot warmer for a couple minutes just to get them on without tears) but once on they were snug and pain free. I got the liner and shell moulded last year when I came back and getting them on now is much easier. However, there are new pressure points which were really painful. I also felt heel movement in my right boot (operated side) which I don’t recall before.
During the good moments when I was relaxed, things came together nicely on various slopes and conditions ( we had ice, fresh powder, white outs, glorious sunshine this week). Most runs turn into mogul fields by late morning and those were fine (except on one black run where the telly were huge and the surgeon’s caution came back to my mind!!).
Words of wisdom, advice, pointers welcome. I’ll look forward to trying them on 28/03.